I spent a week without social media and here's what happened:
1. I read a book.
I literally had enough time on my hands to read an entire book. Not only was this realization somewhat scary, but it also made me realize that I need to put my phone off and away when I am doing work. I remember more about that book that I can remember about my last three homework assignments simply because I was wholly focused on the content rather than checking SnapChat, Instagram, and Facebook every other page.
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2. I tasted every bite of my dinner.
Usually I spend my entire meal looking on my phone and pretty much ignoring whatever is on my plate. Have you ever eaten an entire meal and then found yourself hungry and unsatisfied? That pretty much happened to me every time because I was focusing more on my friend's dog's mannequin challenge than the food I had just made for myself.
3. My phone only needed to be charged once in two days.
How many times a day or week do you normally charge your phone? On an average week my phone is dead by 5 o'clock and I am left searching for my always missing phone charger. When I wasn't constantly using social media my phone battery suddenly lived up to the 12 hour life that Apple kept advertising.
4. Class was interesting.
I know this might be hard to believe considering this time of year classes are beginning to drag and Christmas break is much needed, but class was interesting. Instead of looking at my phone under my desk or sitting on Pinterest on my computer I actively participated. I read an entire short story in Italian, learned about a war I had never heard of, and had good conversations with classmates I have been sitting near all year.
5. I was incredibly out of the loop.
Despite these benefits of quitting social media there were absolutely some big drawbacks. Every time my friends were talking about someone's Instagram, a famous person's snap chat, or a Facebook video I had no idea what they were talking about. I get all of my news from the Twitter feeds of CNN, BBC, Huffington Post, and Buzzfeed News and without my apps I was not up to date on what is going on in the world.
6. I missed a lot of calls.
In my efforts to stay off social media I often put my phone in another room to lessen temptation and I kept missing phone calls. Phone calls I missed:
- a holiday job offer from Target
-a chance to catch up with an old friend
-my Grandparents
-a Facetime from my 5 year old brother
and
-a number I did not have and will never know why they called
7. I realized how much I love social media.
I am the first to admit the downfalls of constant phone use, and that is why I tried this week long hiatus, but by the end I decided it was not worth it. Surely there were some benefits as I mentioned before, but then I realized that this is the time in my life when I am allowed to waste hours watching celebrity interviews and bad Netflix documentaries.
I love you Snapchat filters and I love you Instagram memes and I will never leave you again.
